ArticleJournal of medical ethics2020
The right not to know and the obligation to know.
Article in Journal of medical ethics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The full spectrum of ethical issues in pediatric genome-wide sequencing: a systematic qualitative review.BMC pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Validation of the Swedish Thanatophobia Scale.Journal of palliative care · 2026Article
- A Qualitative Exploration of Ethical Aspects of Using AI in Parkinson Disease: Patient Panel Study.JMIR AI · 2026Article
- Experiences of nurses in exploring and managing preoperative anxiety and information needs of patients at district hospitals in Ashanti region, Ghana.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Delivering HIV-Positive Test Results via Phone: Who Never Answered? Correlates of Undelivered Reactive HIV Results in a U.S. National Cohort of Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- The information that patients, their families, and medical staff wish to know about postoperative pain and its management. Results of the survey after mixed surgical procedures.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Child Mental Health Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Twin-Family Feasibility Study in Nigeria.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- "The significance of clinical foetal autopsy for reproductive health care: an ethical analysis in the German context".Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Article
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- Whole genome sequencing in (recurrent) glioblastoma: challenges related to informed consent procedures and data sharing.Acta neurochirurgica · 2024Review
- GBA/GBN-position on the feedback of incidental findings in biobank-based research: consensus-based workflow for hospital-based biobanks.European journal of human genetics : EJHG · 2023Article
- Health Technology Assessment for In Silico Medicine: Social, Ethical and Legal Aspects.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Ethical Implications of Alzheimer's Disease Prediction in Asymptomatic Individuals through Artificial Intelligence.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The Right Not to Know: some Steps towards a Compromise.Ethical theory and moral practice : an international forum · 2021Article
- Adolescents With Cancer Need Trustworthy Information and Prefer to Receive It From a Human Source Rather Than From the Internet: A Qualitative Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- 'The right not to know and the obligation to know', response to commentaries.Journal of medical ethics · 2020Article
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Abstract
There is significant controversy over whether patients have a 'right not to know' information relevant to their health. Some arguments for limiting such a right appeal to potential burdens on others that a patient's avoidable ignorance might generate. This paper develops this argument by extending it to cases where refusal of relevant information may generate greater demands on a publicly funded healthcare system. In such cases, patients may have an 'obligation to know'. However, we cannot infer from the fact that a patient has an obligation to know that she does not also have a right not to know. The right not to know is held against medical professionals at a formal institutional level. We have reason to protect patients' control over the information that they receive, even if in individual instances patients exercise this control in ways that violate obligations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.